Teddy's Travels with TimeTurners
by A'tuinIsLost
Summary: Whilst Harry is babysitting Teddy, some accidental time travelling allows Remus and Tonks to meet their son years before he is born. Rated T for future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi everyone! As you can see, I've finally got around to publishing what will become my first ever intended multi-chapter fic (although it will probably only be about five chapters long, it's still the first time I've really planned to have anything that was longer than one chapter). I would also like to apologise for the confusion about this story that I inadvertantly caused with my last fstory _Of Sleeping and Sofas_, where I mentioned that I had started writing this- some readers took that to mean that I had published the first chapter, which, looking back, I realise that I did mistakenly imply. Anyway, I think that's it for now, so enjoy, and please review!**

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Harry yawned as he knocked on the front door of the pristine suburban house. Ever since the Battle of Hogwarts a month ago, he had been spending most of his time helping to repair some of the physical war damage all over the country until he started Auror training in September. Today, he'd been helping to build war memorials for each of the wizarding villages in the country, but progress was slow when journalists kept interrupting to try and interview him about the past year. For a while he'd tried disillusioning himself before starting work each day, but it made working as a team so difficult that he gave up and resigned himself to the continual intrusions. He tried to force a polite smile onto his face as Andromeda Tonks opened the door, but he knew that it wouldn't do much good- Andromeda had spent last month suffering from depression, and it wasn't difficult to see why- she had never really had a chance to mourn her husband, and her daughter and son-in-law had recently been taken from her in one night. Having to care for a baby who was barely two months old hadn't helped things, either.

When Harry knocked on the door to visit his godson, it was originally part of an agreement between Harry and Andromeda- every day, Harry would watch over Teddy for a few hours, so that Andromeda could supposedly sleep uninterrupted for bit. To Harry, though, she looked so exhausted that he didn't think that a few short hours would be enough time.

"Umm, Mrs Tonks- Andromeda?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Shall I- did you want me to take Teddy back to the Burrow for the night? I was just thinking that you might want to sleep without Teddy crying every few hours." He didn't realise that, even without Teddy crying, Andromeda hadn't slept properly in months.

"Harry, that's very sweet of you, but are you sure that you'll be able to cope? You're barely 18"

"I've looked after Teddy before, but if I start to have any problems then I'll ask Mrs Weasley to give me a hand. These past months have taken a lot out of everyone, and I think that you deserve a break from it all"

"Alright. But Harry- look after him, please. He's all I've got left now, and I couldn't bear to lose him"

Harry nodded, unable to speak. He'd been to Remus and Tonks' funeral a few weeks ago, and he remembered how Andromeda had barely been able to stand. She'd sat crying for hours in front of their shared grave, clutching Teddy to her chest, and only left when Molly had gently led her to the Burrow for hot sweet tea and biscuits. The Weasleys had taken her in as an honorary family member after that, but it didn't take away the fact that Andromeda had lost all of her family through both the war and the pure-blood supremacy that started it.

With a wave of his wand, Harry had packed up most of Teddy's baby stuff and shrunk it into a small package, which he slipped into his pocket. He picked up Teddy and disapparated away to the Burrow.

A few hours later, most of Teddy's stuff had been returned to Harry's pocket when it became clear that his crib was the only item that would fit in the small space in his half of the room that he now shared with Ron. He had cast a silencing charm around his side of the room, hoping that it would be enough to avoid waking any of the Weasley family. Harry was now pacing up and down, trying to get Teddy to fall asleep, but judging by the fact that his hair was still a bright turquoise, this would probably take a while.

"Ow" he muttered. He had stubbed his toe on what further inspection revealed to be an old Arithmancy textbook, and, he reasoned, it could only be here because Hermione had decided to leave it behind a year ago when they were planning the Horcrux hunt, probably because it was only a third-year textbook. Still holding on to Teddy with one arm, he put the book down on the bed and sat down, figuring that if Teddy wasn't going to fall asleep then he may as well do something while he was waiting. Opening the book, it was then that he noticed a strange, almost glittering dust caught up in the pages. Making sure that he was holding on to Teddy so he couldn't roll off of the bed, he reached out to examine the dust further, but as soon as his fingers touched the page, he felt the room spinning rapidly away from him, eventually disappearing away from him in a manner that was, to Harry, completely unrecognisable.

"If that is all, then I now declare this meeting drawn to a close" Albus' voice rang out across the gloomy kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place, cutting through the confused and sleepy fog that had fallen down on the Order members.

"Thank you Albus. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go and call the children to dinner. Arthur, dear, can you get the pies out of the oven please?"

Within a few short minutes, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George and Ginny were downstairs, and a delicious feast prepared by Molly was on the table.

"Well, as the meeting is over, I'm going to go back to the-". Much to his annoyance, Snape wasn't able to finish his sentence thanks to the sudden arrival of a scruffy-haired boy in the kitchen.

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**AN(2): Sorry about the short chapter, my lovely readers, but I wanted to have the "reveal" in a seperate chapter. I'm afraid that I can't promise when the next chapter will be here as I'm supposed to be revising for my exams (emphasis on the "supposed"). I will try to get something published within the next few weeks though (although reviews motivate me to type!) Thanks for reading!  
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	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Here's the next chapter! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who read the last chapter, especially _thepiperscuriosity_ for reviewing, along with the 4 people who added this to their favourites and the 11 people who added this to their story alerts list. I'd also like to take this chance to thank everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and placed alerts on my other (unrelated) story, "Of Sleeping and Sofas".  
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Before anyone in the room could so much as blink, several wands were pointed at him and he was bombarded with a flurry of questions

"Who the hell are you?"

"What are you doing in here?"

"How did you get past the security?"

"Do I know you? You look vaguely familiar"

"What are you holding on to?"

"Ok, Ok can I speak here please?" Harry called out over the chorus of voices. Taking the mutual silence as an assent, he started to speak to the room at large

"Right, my name is Harry Potter, and I'm 18. The war ended last month, and we won. Voldemort's dead. As to how I got here, I'm not sure. I remember touching some glittery dust-like substance I found in one of Hermione's old textbooks back at the Burrow, which is where I've just come from, although how I ended up here I'm not sure. Wait, this looks like Sirius' house, when I came here around fifth year!" He looked around the room in further detail. Yes, there was Fred and George in the corner, inseparable for the moment, unaware of their future separation. Remus and Tonks were standing side by side, both with their wands pointed at him. Had they been together at this point? He honestly couldn't remember. They'd both been dead a few weeks now, and he missed them both terribly. Moody, as expected, had his wand pointed at Harry's throat, but his attention was drawn by the man at the far end of the kitchen, who had been searching the cupboards for firewhiskey.

"Sirius", Harry breathed, although he wasn't loud enough for anyone else to hear him, and the memories of his godfather were quickly sent from his head by the harsh bark-like speak of Mad-Eye Moody

"Can you prove any of this, Potter?"

"Don't you normally have some veritaserum on you, Moody? If you do, give him some of that and ask him again."

Moody grunted his assent, and pulled a small corked bottle out of his inside pocket. He passed it to Harry, who dropped two drops into his mouth, and repeated himself.

"My name is Harry James Potter, and I'm 18, so judging by the looks of things I'm from the future, although I'm still not entirely sure how I got here. My patronus is a stag, just like my father's was. Anything else you want to know?"

"Alright boy, I don't think you're death eater scum, but I'll be keeping a close eye on you while you're here to make sure"

Harry sighed in relief, glad that he didn't appear to be about to die. An awkward silence still hung in the air, whether it was from shock at him arriving or relief that they won the war he didn't know. Looking down, he was relieved to see that Teddy's hair was finally turning from his favoured bright turquoise to his natural honey-blonde, announcing to the room that he was falling asleep. He wasn't the only one to notice either- he was sure that he heard Ginny gasp from the far corner of the kitchen she'd been pushed into by an over-anxious Molly. It was Remus who broke the silence, reminding everyone of the mysterious item he had brought with him.

"Harry, you didn't mention what it is that you're holding in your arms" he began

"Didn't I? Oh, I'm sorry. This is my godson, Teddy Remus Lupin. He's about 2 months old, and by the looks of things he's finally falling asleep. He's a metamorphmagus, as you've probably noticed"

The shocked moment of silence that followed was broken by Sirius, who leapt up out of his seat and started cheering. "Woo! Moony and Nymphie! You finally get together! Took you two long enough!" The sudden noise was enough to startle Teddy, and he began to cry.

"Shut up Sirius, you've woken Teddy. Harry, I think you've gone wrong somewhere. You know it's not safe for me to have children- it's not fair to curse an innocent child. Oh, what have I done, I've-"

"Remus" Harry interrupted his honorary uncle, as he tried to quiet his now wailing godson "he's perfectly healthy. He's absolutely fine around the full moons"

"He is?" Remus looked visibly relieved, and sunk into a nearby chair, muttering something that sounded distinctly like "Me! A father!" over and over to himself. Seemingly sickened by the looming display of sentimentality, Snape took the opportunity to disapparate unnoticed out of the room.

"Did you want to hold him?" Harry asked

"I think Dora should take him first- she is his mother, after all".

"You take him, Rem, you know that I'll probably drop him on his head or something"

After a nod of confirmation from both parents, Harry carefully placed his crying godson into Remus' arms. To the surprise of all, but perhaps especially Remus, Teddy stopped crying at once and settled comfortably into his father's arms, then turned his eyes to blue to match Remus', who was now smiling as wide as he could and had tears of joy running down his face as he gazed at his baby son. "Teddy" he whispered "My beautiful son".

Tonks appeared to recover from the shock after a few minutes, and finally managed to tear her eyes away from the father of her future child to speak to Harry

"What does he look like, Harry? Naturally, I mean"

"Teddy? Like he looks now, but normally he's got brown eyes instead of blue." Tonks moved towards the table and pulled out another chair, then sat on the edge of it so she could lean around Remus' shoulder to see her son.

"He's got your eyes, Dora" murmured Remus

"And your hair, Rem. He's gorgeous."

As was probably to be expected, it was Sirius who interrupted the family moment. "Look", he said, ignoring the mild glare he received from Molly, who had a few tears glistening in her own eyes, "as happy as I am that those two finally get together, can we eat please? I'm starving here"

"I'm afraid that's my cue to leave- as lovely as your cooking is, Molly, I need to get back to the school. It looks like I have some research to do" announced Dumbledore. His eyes twinkled, and he turned towards the still engrossed Remus and Tonks.

"Nymphadora, Remus, congratulations. Harry"- both Harrys looked towards him, the younger looking rather hopeful-"sorry, older Harry" -the younger Harry looked away in disappointment- "I'd like to speak to you outside briefly please"

"Harry, I need to know how you got back to this time. As lovely as it is to see what a wonderful young man you've become, and bring little Teddy with you, it's dangerous for you to spend too much time here. Terrible things have happened to wizards who meddle with time"

"I told you everything earlier. There was a strange glittery powder in Hermione's old third-year Arithmancy textbook, which I touched to take a closer look at. I was holding on to Teddy at the time, and the next thing I know, we're here at Grimmauld"

"Thank you Harry. And in the meantime, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you not to talk to anyone about the war; or about the future really. I'll be back soon once I've done some research" And with that, Dumbledore disapparated away, leaving Harry standing in the gloomy hall.

By the time he had returned to the kitchen, everyone was sitting around the table tucking into Molly's delicious feast- well, everyone except for Remus, who wouldn't let go of Teddy long enough to put anything into his mouth, much to Molly's chagrin.

"Remus, dear, you need to eat something" she coaxed

"I'm not really hungry, Molly. Besides, I can't just leave Teddy on a chair whilst I eat, can I?"

In the end, it was Tonks who solved the problem, and Teddy was held by Remus for the first half of the meal, after which he handed Teddy over to Tonks so he himself could eat.

Once everyone had eaten, Teddy was passed around the room to be cooed over by most of the Order (with the exception of Sirius, who was searching the house for firewhiskey), eventually falling asleep in Tonks' arms. The sound of the striking clock reminded everyone of the late hour, and Molly ordered her children to bed, directing the older Harry to a bedroom just across the hall from where his younger self slept. He was just following everyone up the stairs when he suddenly remembered the small package in his pocket, which he removed and magically expanded, leaving a small heap of baby things on the scrubbed wooden table.

"I still had these in my pocket from when I picked up Teddy earlier, and you'll probably need them". Harry mumbled a vague goodnight and turned to go upstairs as Molly got to her feet and began to sort through the jumbled baby items.

"Harry hasn't brought his crib with him, and he's too young to sleep in any of the beds we've got here without him falling out. I'll have to go back to the Burrow; we've still got the one that the kids slept in in the shed"

"It's not safe, Molly. Besides, he's fallen asleep now, and I don't want to wake him up. He might as well just stay where he is now" argued Tonks

"You can't stay up all night, dear"

"Why not? If I can handle all-night guard duties, then I think I can handle holding my son all night"

"Molly, Tonks is right- if she can spend all night watching a doorway with Mad-Eye, then she can spend all night watching Teddy"

"Yes, but watching a doorway for death eaters is rather different to staring at a sleeping baby all night. What if she falls asleep?" Molly was now looking to the Order for support in her argument, although most were resolutely avoiding her gaze.

"If Tonks falls asleep, then I can wake her up or take Teddy from her" Remus reasoned. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he turned to Tonks almost shyly. "That's if you don't mind me staying, Dora?" Tonks shook her head in response

Unable to come up with any other reasoning, Molly left the room with Arthur. Their departure seemed to act as a reminder of the late hour to the Order members still in the kitchen, and they too departed, leaving Remus and Tonks alone in the kitchen save for a sleeping Teddy.

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**AN(2): Sorry for the abrupt ending, my lovely readers! I felt when I was writing this that I wanted the first night with Teddy to be in a separate chapter, which may not be posted for a while as I ought to be doing exam revision. For the purposes of clarity, unless otherwise stated, "Harry" refers to the 18-year-old Harry from the present/future, not the younger 15-year-old Harry from the _Order of the Phoenix_ era. I would also like to add that I know virtually nothing about babies, so if I make any glaring mistakes on that front then please let me know.  
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**AN(3): Don't forget, I love reviews, whether good or critical! I have decided for this story that I will write a one-shot for author of every tenth review (or the next review if it is left anonymously or by a reader who has disabled Private Messaging on their account), so you know what to do!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I'm back at last! I'm really sorry for taking so long to update, but I've been really busy lately. I also had a few problems with writer's block, but here's the final version of chapter 3!**

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"Shall we move into the library? I imagine we'll be more comfortable there"

"That would be a brilliant suggestion, Remus, if it wasn't for the fact that we'd have to bring all of this with us, along with a sleeping baby. You're also forgetting the fact that I can't walk down that hallway without being attacked by that infernal umbrella stand and setting off that portrait, which will probably wake up Teddy, that's if I don't drop him" Tonks snapped. She hadn't meant to speak so harshly, but she'd had an exhausting day both physically and emotionally. She was already besotted with her mysteriously appearing son, but she wasn't looking forward to staying up all night whilst he slept. She was also wondering why Harry was back from the future in the first place- something from his expression had suggested that she and Remus wouldn't survive the war-

"Dora? Shall we go and sit in the library now, or did you want to stay here?" Tonks was startled from her thoughts by Remus, who had spent the last few moments packing all of Teddy's stuff back into a small package, which he then placed in his pocket.

"What? Yeah, ok. Take Teddy for me, will you?"

Within a few (mercifully trip-free) minutes, Remus and Tonks were sitting on the library sofa, with Teddy returned to Tonks' arms where he continued to sleep soundly, unaware that his hair was flashing different colours as he dreamt.

"Well, he's obviously inherited his love of bright colours from his mother" Remus commented as Teddy's hair flashed a brilliant lime green.

"I guess so", Tonks grinned, "although you seem pretty partial to bright colours yourself" she teased, tilting her head towards Teddy to illustrate her point

Remus was saved from having to respond by Sirius, who took that moment to storm into the library, leaving the door to close with what would've been a loud bang had Remus not sent a hasty cushioning charm towards the doorframe. He threw himself into the nearby armchair with a small puff of rising dust, muttering a string of profanities under his breath until Remus threw a cushion at him.

"Oi! What was that for, Moony?"

"Stop swearing in front of my son or it'll be more than just one of your noble and ancient cushions, Sirius" he growled. Remus was generally considered a polite and well-mannered man, but those who knew him were well aware of how angry he could get in defence of someone he cared about.

"Bloody hell, Moony, I haven't seen you like this since-" Sirius broke off, trying to remember when exactly the wolf had last taken over Remus' normally placid personality, then grinned.

"Since when, Sirius?" Remus asked, a little warily. Judging by the grin on his best friend's face, either a crazy plan was underfoot or Sirius had remembered one of the many moments that Remus preferred to forget about. Right now, Remus would willingly have allowed Sirius to paint Kreacher purple and give him fairy wings and a tutu (again) if it meant that he could avoid being forced to re-live some long-suppressed memory.

"Since that time when I" Sirius began, but Remus, remembering the incident himself, hastened to interrupt him.

"Sirius, that's enough". With a quick wave of his wand, Remus successfully silenced his friend, and turned back to the young woman sitting beside him, gently stroking the downy tuft of now honey-blonde hair on Teddy's head

"Do you want a mug of hot chocolate or anything, Dora?" he asked. For once in his life he didn't actually want one himself, but he was desperate to get out of the room before Sirius tried to reveal any more embarrassing secrets. Part of him knew that leaving his best friend alone was only going to encourage him to speak, but right now he just wanted the relative peace offered by the kitchen.

"Hmmm?" Tonks tore her eyes away of Teddy to look at Remus "Oh, yes please, Remus, that would be lovely".

Remus returned a few minutes later with two steaming mugs, each decorated with a mound of whipped cream and a scattering of marshmellows. He hoped that by making one for himself as well that Sirius would be less likely to make a comment about them flirting, but even he had to admit that he'd have a better chance of killing Voldemort with a tea cosy than succeeding at that particular task, especially now that Harry had revealed that they had a child together.

"Thanks, Rem. Whilst you're up though, can you do something about Sirius? If he carries on glaring like that I think something'll catch fire"

Remus waved his wand again, prompting a return to Sirius' angry mutterings. Mindful of Remus' skill with hexes, he replaced the profanities with jabs to the armchair with his wand, leaving an array of scorch marks that even Molly Weasley's arsenal of cleaning charms wouldn't be able shift

By the time Sirius had finished complaining, Tonks could feel herself getting sleepy. Teddy's hair appeared to have settled again on honey-blonde, so she couldn't even keep herself awake by guessing what colour it would turn next. She was just considering a quick nap when Sirius spoke up.

"So, can I see the little squirt then?

"Sirius! My- Our son is not a squirt!" Tonks was still having some difficulty getting used to the idea that she would have a child in a few years, never mind that it was with the man she had been in love with for the past few months.

"Fine. Can I see the littlest Marauder then?"

This time, it was Remus who spoke up. "Sirius, Teddy will be a well behaved student- nothing like what we were"

"Actually, if it means that he turns out like his father, he can have all the detentions he wants" Tonks grinned "although the ladies wouldn't stand a chance"

Sensing defeat, and in an effort to distract Sirius from his embarrassment, Remus, after a nod of agreement from Tonks, carefully scooped Teddy out of her arms and walked over to Sirius before crouching down next to him. It was at this point that Tonks yawned, momentarily distracting both men from the sleeping baby.

"Dora, de-" Remus caught himself just in time. They might, in the eyes of an older Harry anyway, be in a relationship now, but any terms of endearment would still be awkward. Actually, Remus thought, if he was being totally honest with himself, the whole thing was awkward- how were you supposed to react when your friend's son shows up from the future announcing that you're now a married father? Realising that he was attracting an odd look from Sirius, he started again

"Dora, if you're tired, maybe you should go to bed. You've had a long day, and I can look after Teddy for the night"

"I'll be fine, Rem. And thanks for the hot chocolate, by the way- no one makes it as nice as you do". Tonks raised her mug in a gesture of thanks, unfortunately sending a gooey half—melted marshmellow, previously balanced precariously on a small mound of whipped cream, out of the mug to land on her chest. Sighing, she reached for her wand to remove the sugary mess. Before she could grab hold of it, Remus had removed the sticky mess himself and turned back to the sleeping child

"Thanks, Rem" she smiled. Her smile then contorted into an expression of guilt, "and I'm sorry about earlier"

Remus was baffled. "Whatever for, Dora?"

"Earlier, in the kitchen, when I snapped at you- I didn't mean to"

"It was fine Dora, really- it's been a long day"

Tonks' opened her mouth to protest, but Sirius interrupted her

"I hate to interrupt your flirting-"

"We're not flirting!"

"We don't flirt!"

"Really? 'Cause the little squirt here kind of says otherwise"

Neither Remus nor Tonks had anything to say to this, so they sat in silence until Tonks spoke again

"So, Sirius, want to hold him?"

"What? Yeah, alright then". He moved his arms towards Remus, who hadn't moved "Hand him over, Moony"

Remus instead got up and handed Teddy back to Tonks before leaving the library. Before Sirius and Remus could so much as glance at each other her was back, clutching two small bottles of an orange liquid in his hand which he passed over to Sirius.

"Sober-up potion" he said by means of an explanation. "Both of them. Don't give me that look, Padfoot" Sirius quickly wiped the look of annoyance off of his face "I know what you're like when you're drunk, and you're not getting anywhere near Teddy until you're completely sober"

As Sirius gulped down the strangely orange potion, Tonks found herself having to use what little willpower she possessed not to leap up and throw her arms around Remus. She knew that he never expected children, but his over-protectiveness of Teddy, despite only knowing him for a few hours was so undeniably, well, _Remus_, that it highlighted to her why she'd fallen for what had admittedly been an unlikely person. With that last thought in her mind, she yawned again, curled her legs up onto the sofa and promptly fell asleep. Satisfied that Sirius was sober, Remus handed Teddy over to him to hold, and then conjured a bubble-gum pink woollen blanket which he wrapped around the sleeping witch. He also sent a silencing charm her way- it wouldn't last long, but he didn't want her to wake up if Teddy started to cry. As though he had heard Remus' thoughts, Teddy woke up in Sirius' arms and began to grizzle. At the look of panic on his friend's face (although he was feeling no calmer himself) he took Teddy back into his own arms and tried to quiet him, but the cries turned in wails.

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As the first of Teddy's muffled wails echoed through the house, Molly Weasley jerked awake, her body alert to the cry of any child after raising seven of her own. For a moment, she thought that it was one of her own children and moved to get out of bed, before remembering with a pang of sadness that her own children had grown up now. Before she could get too lost in the nostalgia, she forced her mind back to the surprising events of the evening- Harry had shown up, claiming to be from the future, with little baby Teddy, turning the normally reserved werewolf into one unashamedly crying in front of most of the Order. He of all people deserved it, she thought- she'd seen the years practically fall from his face whenever Tonks stumbled (usually late) into Order meetings before he'd had a chance to control his expression, as well as the uncontrolled sparkle in his eyes when she conjured a chair next to his by the door rather than walk to the spare seats on the other side of the table.

Molly paused in her thoughts to listen again, surprised to hear silence again rather than cries- Remus and Tonks had obviously got Teddy back to sleep again, and rather quickly too. Then again, she knew that Remus had been good with children- how often had she heard the kids rave about what a great teacher he had been? Unbidden, a long forgotten memory arose from the days of the first Order- she hadn't been a member back then because of the children, but she'd invited Lily, Harry, James, Remus and Sirius round for coffee one afternoon (James and Sirius hadn't shown up as they'd been on a mission at the time). Lily had put Harry down to play with Ron whilst they talked- about what, she couldn't remember. The exact details of the afternoon had escaped her, but at one point Lily had picked Harry up and handed him over to Remus on the grounds that it would be "good for him". Remus had dutifully held his arms in position, sitting as stiff as a statue with the look on his face one of pure terror. By the time they were ready to go home, Remus had relaxed considerably, and even looked like he was enjoying himself as he tickled a giggling Harry.

* * *

Downstairs, Remus was pacing in the library, his mind running through what little he could remember from when Harry was a baby. In a moment of hopeless inspiration, he grabbed his wand from where he'd put it on the table and summoned a bottle and a tub of milk formula from the mass of only partially identifiable baby things on the floor. Checking he had a secure grip on a still-wailing Teddy, he levitated the bottle and formula to the kitchen, where, squinting in the dim light, he managed to make up a bottle of milk with relatively little difficulty. He carried Teddy and the bottle back to the library and offered the bottle up to Teddy, who drunk from it hungrily. Relieved, he sunk back into the sofa and turned back to Sirius, who was looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"What?"

After realising that Sirius wasn't about to speak anytime soon, Remus looked down to see that the milk bottle was empty. Placing the bottle on the table, he placed Teddy over his shoulder and gently rubbed his back, then settled him back into his arms again before turning back to Sirius, who still hadn't lowered his eyebrows.

"Sirius, what is it?" Remus questioned. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tonks move in her sleep, dislodging the blanket that had been wrapped around her. Holding Teddy with one arm, he automatically reached over to tuck the blanket around her more securely, blushing furiously when her head lolled to the side and onto his shoulder. To his surprise, Sirius sniggered. Sighing, he closed his eyes and leant back into the sofa- he should've known that the teasing would start soon

"What now?"

"You. Mr "no-really-we're-just-friends". You do know that you're the only one who can get away with calling her Dora, don't you? Plus, it's kind of hard to hide the fact that you like each other when she's asleep on your shoulder, especially with the little squirt there. You might as well just come out and say it"

"Sirius, how many times do I have to tell you? Nothing can happen between us"

"Well, something, or should I say someone, does happen to you, so you'd better get used to it. Although for "just friends" there's been remarkably little pacing"

"Actually, I think it's more that it hasn't sunk in yet" Remus grinned ruefully "Tomorrow I'll be pacing a hole in the floor and Molly will be force feeding me calming draughts at every given moment"

The two men sat in comfortable silence, during which Tonks took the opportunity to snuggle deeper into his side, sending a jolt of electricity through his spine. He shivered, making Teddy squirm slightly. Remus held his breath, then breathed an audible sigh of relief when Teddy started sleeping, prompting a questioning look from Sirius

"Teddy- he stayed asleep, thank Merlin. If he woke up then he'd probably wake the whole house up before we could get him back to sleep"

"You managed it earlier without waking the house up"

"You don't know that he didn't, and that was different anyway. He was hungry"

"Whatever you say, Moony. You know, you're suspiciously good at this whole kid lark" he waved an arm at Teddy and the heap of baby stuff on the floor.

"James didn't want Lily on her own with Harry when you two went off on that week-long mission for Dumbledore, so he asked me to stay with her. I ended up helping her with Harry a bit, although not very well"

The mood turned sombre for a few moments as they mourned the happier days of the past. Sirius reached for a huge old book on the shelf behind him, which he opened to reveal a large hole cut in the pages concealing a bottle of firewhiskey.

"To Lily and James" he raised the bottle

"To Lily and James" Remus replied, raising Teddy slightly in the absence of a drink.

The two men continued to sit in a comfortable silence, with Sirius occasionally taking swigs from the bottle in his hand. The combination of alcohol and sober-up potion quickly caused him to fall asleep in his chair, but Remus stayed awake, a myriad of thoughts buzzing through his mind. Harry had shown up with the news that he was married, and had presented him with his healthy son who reminded him so much of Dora it was uncanny, even when he had morphed his eyes to match his own. Speaking of Dora- she had somehow managed to over-balance even in her sleep, and was now lying across the sofa rather than against him, her feet digging into his thigh. Fighting the disappointment at the change in sleeping arrangements, he conjured a pillow, and re-adjusted the blanket around her. Dora, he mused, that was another thing that Teddy's arrival had changed. Until now, he'd been denying his growing feelings for the young Auror (although Sirius kept going on about it, and Molly was always trying to leave them alone together in the kitchen), but there would be no denying any kind of feelings between them now, however much he might want to. There was also the fact that he was precisely the worst sort of person for Dora to end up with- thirteen years older than her and a penniless werewolf was hardly the best choice for anyone, let alone a sparkling, funny, beautiful young Auror. He had been relieved to hear that the war wouldn't last as long as the last one, but the look on Harry's face when he arrived had suggested that more than a couple of the Order hadn't lived to see the end of war. He wasn't concerned for himself, but he was particularly worried about Sirius and Dora, especially now that Teddy had appeared- he needed at least one of his parents to survive. Remus shook his head, as though trying to physically force himself to stop over-thinking things. He couldn't see what time it was, but the early winter light was already visible on the horizon through the grimy window and he knew that within a few hours, Dora would have to be up to go back to the Ministry, and he'd probably end up doing paperwork for most of the day or Sirius' Christmas shopping for him. With any luck he'd also be able to get some sleep, as the full moon was already a week away, but a young baby didn't make that particularly likely. Maybe he could ask Molly to babysit around the full moon, as Dora would surely be working. And with that final thought, Remus closed his eyes, stretched out his legs on the floor and fell asleep.

* * *

**AN(2): Thanks for reading! I'll try to get the next chapter posted soon, but I'm afraid that I can't make any promises. Many thanks to everyone who's reviewed, favourited or alerted- I love you all! And don't forget that the author of every tenth review gets a one-shot featuring characters of their choice!**

**AN(3):**

**Guest (on 14/7): Thanks very much! As you can see, I am still working on this story, it's just taking it's time**

**Guest (on 26/7): I'm glad you like it! Thanks for pointing that out to me- I didn't realise that I'd been putting Harry down as 18 all the way through. I'll change them all over in the next day or so.**


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